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Want a Glock With That Hummer?

We’ve posted before about odd pairs of goods that are sold as complements; some make more sense than others. Jim Lynch, who owns a Hummer dealership in Chesterfield, Missouri, has begun selling guns and ammo alongside the vehicles. As the Auto Blog reports, Lynch feels that Hummers and guns are “a natural fit” because “our customers enjoy outdoor sports.” Here’s hoping the firearms don’t show up in any traffic ticket disputes. (HT: Subir Shrestha) [%comments]

jessicamny

Michael Edmonds

My favorite odd pairing is far more pervasive. It is the customer who orders a diet soft drink with that double cheeseburger with bacon and extra mayonnaise. Oh yes, don't forget the fries!

Neil (SM)

September 1, 2009 @ 6:19pm

No, the diet soda thing isn't that odd really. I eat those kind of unhealthy fast foods on occasion (usually don't make it a regular occurrence) but never drink any non-diet soda anymore. So what?

Changing topics, I'm a bit wary of that study about Hummers and traffic tickets.

According to the article, "The study, by Quality Planning Corp., says the next-highest ticket attractor is the Honda Scion, which is favored by still-immortal thirtysomethings with a self-image of swashbuckling recklessness."

Really? WTF is a Honda Scion?

aubrey

September 1, 2009 @ 7:08pm

Can you bring up ONE example of a legal gun being used in a "traffic dispute"?

The whole wild west traffic shooting idea has been around forever, and as far as I know it has never happened.

Jota Efe

September 1, 2009 @ 7:34pm

@Neil

the original study (http://www.qualityplanning.com/) lists three Scion models (tC, xB and xA) in the top ten. The "Honda Scion" is an error introduced in the article that quotes the study.

But on the other hand, I don't think the Subaru Outback belongs on that list either!

Jonathon K.

September 1, 2009 @ 8:03pm

Odd pairing I've seen: when I was in Amsterdam last summer I saw a Sex Toy / Bicycle Rental store....

Holme

September 1, 2009 @ 8:10pm

Gun and Humvee is the perfect match for any man.

jimi

September 1, 2009 @ 8:29pm

Throw in some BBQ sauce and I'll buy today!

tudza

September 1, 2009 @ 9:50pm

I think a Scion is a Toyota affiliate. Can't really tell on most components, but the glass is Toyota glass.

Hope people check their state gun laws. Can't carry a pistol in our passenger compartment in Washington state without a concealed weapons permit.

David

September 1, 2009 @ 10:49pm

Remember Michael Moore's documentary on Columbine. He found a bank that gave out rifles with the opening of a new account. You can rob the bank after opening your checking account.

tde

September 1, 2009 @ 11:12pm

It's amusing that some otherwise sane people are, apparently, so freaked out by firearms.

Banks used to give out toasters when people opened accounts. What is the connection between a savings account and toast???

What is it about firearms that send people into such a tizzy?

Michael Dorset

September 1, 2009 @ 11:52pm

In Green Bay, WI, there is a jewelry store that has a yearly special where they offer a free rifle (or possibly shotgun; I am not that well informed about firearms) with the purchase of a diamond ring.
When I first moved up here three years ago, I thought this was some kind of parody or joke; but even my more worldly local acquaintances see no irony or contradiction about this combination at all; when I try to explain my discomfort, the general response is, "but that is a really nice gun!"

LG

September 2, 2009 @ 12:43am

@tde: The thing that sends people into a tizzy about firearms is their ability to kill people in a way that, say, free toasters do not. I'm not against legal firearm ownership, but I do think it's unwise to be pushing even more out into the wild by bundling them with unrelated goods.

Every *extra* gun, beyond what people are using responsibly for self-defense or recreation, is merely an increased chance of being misused (stolen and used by criminals, found by a kid, used by the owner or whoever else gets their hands on it in a moment of depression, rage, or carelessness).

I think guns are great fun, but I don't own any because in my sober assessment, I realize that the chances of my ever using it self-defense are outweighed by the chances that it will be stolen or misused, no matter what precautions I take (and recognizing that the best precautions against misuse also reduce the chances of it being practical for self-defense). I suspect this analysis would prove true for most guns and their owners, too, but very few will admit it.

My father (ex military police, the most responsible gun owner there ever was) recently had a handgun (trigger locked, ammunition stored separately) stolen from his home. He hasn't needed to use a gun in self-defense for 40 years, and probably never will again, so in some sense his gun in the home (kept mainly out of "habit" and perhaps nostalgia) only increased the danger in the world. I think he has a different view of the tradeoffs now.

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Liz

September 2, 2009 @ 12:58am

In North Adams MA, next to the gun shop is the dry cleaner. One would not want to leave too many blood stains I guess.

Bob

September 2, 2009 @ 1:08am

Toasters and guns, hmmm. O.K., road rage with a toaster, now that's a video I might find funny.

How can someone really ask what sends people into a tizzy over guns? Guns have one purpose, and one purpose only, and that is to kill things.

Really, Guns and Hummers. What the heck, booze is legal, so what's the problem with giving out a fifth or a 12 pack to celebrate your new purchase. As long as you are responsible, no problem.

To Aubrey in post #4, you've never seen the cops episode with the drunk guy waving his piece at the cops as he's flying down the highway.

It's one thing to be ejected from a presidential meet and greet for wearing an offensive t-shirt, but a whole different dimension to be accepted while carrying an assault rifle. I think I might show up at one of those carrying a toaster, just to see if I make it on a national news station.

Kevin in McLean, VA

September 2, 2009 @ 3:06am

The gun will come in handy for fending off all of the whack job tree huggers who'll try to vandalize his hummer. this happens a lot around here.

H Tran

September 2, 2009 @ 7:00am

Did a search and it appears that if you're more than $600 for a Glock, you're paying too much. I'd rather have a fuel card.

Will

September 2, 2009 @ 1:10pm

@10: You do know that the free gun incident was misrepresented by Moore (as is most of the stuff he does). While it is true that the bank was offering a free .22 cal. rifle, in a later documentary about Michael Moore, the bank staff reported that their standard procedure was that the customer selected the rifle they wanted from a catalog and received it days later, but Moore wanted them to hand him the gun at the bank on camera, so they made some special arrangements to do so; they didn't realize that he was going to misrepresent that transaction as the way the free gun offer actually worked.

Incidentally, while a .22 rifle is potentially deadly, it is not a reliably effective weapon: a .22 rifle is dangerous from the standpoint that you *could* be seriously injured or killed if you do get shot with one, but it is ineffective as a weapon from the standpoint that if you shoot someone with it, they will *probably* not be incapacitated. Not that bank robbers are the brightest people to begin with, but you'd have to be extra dull or suicidal to use a .22 rifle to hold up a bank.

@15: saying that guns have only one purpose: to kill is like saying that sex is only for making babies. Guns were originally designed as weapons, but so were bows and javelins and we don't deny the legitimacy of archery or javelin throwing as peaceful, recreational or competitive activities. Just because a tool was designed with a particular purpose in mind doesn't mean that people can't or won't adapt that tool to another, possibly unrelated purpose.

Guns are a very emotional and polarizing topic, especially in the U.S., where guns have a prominent place in the national mythology. The reality is that guns are a lot more ordinary and prosaic than many make them out to be: they aren't super-weapons or the instigators of all violence, nor are they shining defenders of national liberty and personal safety. They are, of course, used as weapons, but so are lots of other things which can be just as deadly but don't provoke anywhere near the same emotional reactions. The actual effect that having more or fewer guns would have is, I suspect, a lot more muted than advocates on both sides seem to think.

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KarenS

September 2, 2009 @ 1:15pm

I've always wondered if car manufacturers should offer a factory-installed gun rack as an option on their pick up trucks.

aubrey

September 2, 2009 @ 2:08pm

@Bob:

I'm not talking about criminals running away from cops, I'm talking about otherwise respectable folks suddenly having a road rage induced shootout. This is what we are repeatedly told will happen, and it doesn't.